The offering of the pipe - Essay Example

‘The offering of the pipe’ This was a vision by Elk on the origin, the purpose and the spiritual meaning of the pipe. The vision is also a revelation of how spirits communicate to the people in different ways. In this vision the power of the spirit is manifested in different forms. This was a show of how powerful deities can be. The vision is also a set of believe and trust to the supernatural. The way the people reacted after the Holy Spirit manifested itself to the people. The vision is also a display of the origin of some beliefs and powers.

As a visionary, Elk has the responsibility of interpreting the themes in his visions. He acted as a medium or integrator between the supernatural world and the people. In his community, he was more of a religious leader than a visionary. The people believed that he had a connection to the spirit world and obeyed all he had to warn about (Neihardt chapter 1). The people were also excited if he came up with good news from the spiritual world. This is a show of how much people believed in spirits and supernatural consequences in case of any wrong doing.

In his stories, Elk also bestows himself as a medium (Neihardt chapter 1). He explains the meaning of each and every factor or existing object or problem. For instance, he has the answers to the symbolic meaning of all the contents of the pipe, from the color used on the ribbons, to the position of each ribbon and significance of the pipe in the normal world (Neihardt chapter 1). The origin of the pipe has a great spiritual or religious depth in it. In this case, the medium between the people and the gods was a beautiful woman.

The woman was bestowed with so much power and spirit that she could see beyond the skin of a person (Neihardt chapter 1). She could read minds and relate to the souls of the living. On her arrival to the community, she had an encounter with two young men who she could read their minds and foresees their intentions (Neihardt chapter 1). To prove this point, Elk points out that out of the two men, one was foolish and had bad intentions towards the woman. The two men had encountered a beautiful woman in the forest on her own.

This is an obvious assumption that one of the men would think of something bad. She summoned the foolish man who heeded to her calls, and she later killed him spiritually with the use of special powers (Neihardt chapter 1). This was an indication that she acted as a medium from the gods. With her she had a message which she had to pass to the people in the community. She commanded for the message to be conveyed and the community at large was amazed by these happenings. Every individual looked forwards for that day the medium would convey her message.

In Elk’s interpretation of the vision, this showed how much the people needed a medium from the gods (Neihardt chapter 1). They had high spirits and strong beliefs that the spirits had to convey messages to them through such mediums. The phenomenon applied to create the vision of a beautiful woman was based on supernatural powers. The phenomenon in this vision is designed to create an angelic presentation of a godly messenger. From the description of the woman by Elk, she was pure and her physical appearance depicted purity and power (Neihardt chapter 1).

In describing her appearance, Elk says that as she sang, a white cloud came from her mouth that had a good smell (Neihardt chapter 1). Elk also says the beautiful young woman gave powerful promises and commands that only a deity could give. For instance, she said ‘.with this you shall multiply and be a good nation.’ (Neihardt chapter 1). In this vision, Elk’s main aim was to create a perception that there exist two different powers in the world: one superior power which is an inclusion of the gods and the spirits and a lesser kingdom inhabited by humans.

Elk also gives the symbolic meaning of the factors in the vision. The main object in the vision is a pipe that had a calf carved on one side, twelve eagle feathers and a grass that never breaks that tied the together (Neihardt chapter 1). The curved calf symbolizes the earth that feeds the people and bears. The twelve eagle feathers symbolized the skies and twelve moons (Neihardt chapter 1). And the beautiful woman in spirit symbolizes the existence of supernatural powers that rule over the earth.

The woman also symbolized a god. Work cited Neihardt, John. Black Elk Speaks. Retrieved from: http://www.firstpeople.us/articles/Black-Elk-Speaks/Black-Elk-Speaks-Index.html. Web. Accessed on 21st February, 2013.